Many private groups reviewed by The Times contained content and behavior that appeared to violate Facebook rules, like those against hate speech.
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IRIN | Three charts on US funding cuts for Palestinian refugees
Past US funding of UNRWA was “hush money” – compensation given the lack of any political solution – a senior aid worker in the region told IRIN. The aid worker, who requested anonymity given the sensitivity of the issues, said the US move to undermine UNRWA is aimed to “kill the idea” of a Palestinian diaspora and any “right of return.”
Source: IRIN | Three charts on US funding cuts for Palestinian refugees
Ashrawi: Barkat’s pledge to expel UNRWA from Jerusalem “arrogant and outrageous”
On behalf of the PLO Executive Committee, Dr. Hanan Ashrawi strongly condemned the so-called ‘Mayor’ of Jerusalem Nir Barkat’s pledge to expel UNRWA from occupied Jerusalem, close down all its institutions, including the schools, and to shut down its operations and programs.
“Barkat’s pledge to expel UNRWA from occupied Jerusalem and shut down its services and programs is arrogant and outrageous,” Ashrawi said. “Israel is responsible for creating the Palestinian refugee problem, and it has no right to alter the mandate, duties and responsibilities of UNRWA as defined by the United Nations,” she continued.
Established by UN General Assembly Resolution 302 (IV) of December 8, 1949, UNRWA provides essential services, assistance and opportunities for work, growth and development to 5.3 million Palestinian refugees in Occupied Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria. It is also a safeguard for the Palestinian refugees’ legal and political rights.
UNRWA was set up by the international community (including the United States) as a step towards the implementation of UN General Assembly Resolution 194 (III) which the Israeli government then had pledged to fulfill but reneged on its commitment.
“Such a declaration is a direct affront to the international community and its laws and institutions, as well as a deliberate targeting of the Palestinian refugees and their rights,” she said.
“Clearly, Barkat’s comments have been emboldened by the latest American decision to defund UNRWA and redefine the status of Palestinian refugees. These moves are part of the US administration’s plan to dismantle all permanent status issues at the core of which are occupied Jerusalem, the Palestinian refugees and the right of return, the two-state solution, 1967 borders, and the legality of the settlements, thereby destroying the chances of peace,” she added.
Ashrawi also said that regardless of the American administration’s “irresponsible and illegal latest moves, neither the United States nor Israel (let alone the so-called ‘Mayor’ of Jerusalem) can impose their will on the international community or target its institutions.”
“It is up to governments worldwide and all members of the international community to rise to the challenge and intervene immediately to ensure that such threats are not carried out and to maintain the integrity of the global legal and political system,” she concluded.
Germany: Refugee sentenced to 8 years and 6 months for teen murder
Not debate – just an excuse to be a Nazi again!

An asylum-seeker, thought to be from Afghanistan, has been given an 8-and-a-half-year prison sentence for the murder of a teenage German girl. The case has fueled debate on asylum policy in Germany.
Donald Trump makes Ohio’s Youngstown great again
What is this reporter smoking? Youngstown was always just Youngstown and steel left in the 1960s because US protectionism/tariffs allowed owners to ignore innovations in Europe, Japan and Taiwan. US tariffs killed US Steel!

Once the “Manhattan of the Midwest,” Youngstown has been hit hard by the decline of the US steel industry. But hope is returning and some say it’s because of their man in the White House. Lars Gesing reports from Ohio.
Germany hosts high-level conference on humanitarian crisis in the Lake Chad region

Conflict and climate change have plunged the Lake Chad region into one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. An international conference in Berlin aims to raise more support for the millions of people in need of aid.
Far-right AfD to disband youth groups over police surveillance
Neo-Nazis must be dealt with harshly or we will see what happened in 1939 begin again!

Two regional youth wings of the AfD are planning to close after being placed under observation. The nationalists decried the “abuse of power” after authorities cited concerns over extremist ties.
Monday Open Thread | Meet Andrew Gillum
It’s Labor Day. The beginning of ‘Election Season’.
Well, let’s meet some candidates this week.

He came out of nowhere last week to win the Democratic Nomination for Governor in Florida.
His name is Andrew Gillum.
If you like what you see, why don’t you tell others, and we can give him a collective financial boost. We know the power of small donations.
Andrew Gillum is running for Governor to rebuild Florida into a state that works for all of us. He knows everyone deserves good-paying jobs so they can support their families. He wants to protect and expand Floridians’ access to quality, affordable healthcare, especially people with pre-existing conditions. He knows we need to strengthen our public schools and end the culture of high-stakes testing.
As Governor, he will fight against the special interests that are standing in the way of taking real action on climate change, and he will always ensure Florida is a welcoming and safe place for everyone, no matter where they come from, who they love or how they identify.
Andrew was born in Miami where his mother drove a school bus and his father was a construction worker. He was the first in his family to graduate college and he went on to become the youngest person in history elected to the Tallahassee City Commission, before later becoming Mayor. He has a proud record of 15 years in public service.
As Mayor, Andrew developed a thriving innovation economy, beat the gun lobby in court to protect commonsense reform and stood up to President Trump and Governor Rick Scott to defend immigrants.
Under Andrew’s leadership, Tallahassee advanced workforce training programs for underrepresented workers as one of only 50 cities in the nation included in President Obama’s TechHire program. Andrew also helped lower violent crime in the City by more than 8 percent through increased investments in law enforcement, community policing, re-entry programs, and an expansion of social service funding.
Mayor Gillum is now running for Governor because we need a fresh approach to solving the problems of our state and get our government back on track. He lives with his wife R. Jai and their three children in Tallahassee, Florida.
I went looking for information about him, and found this wonderful page about his wife- R. Jai.
Found these videos.
They were on the Tom Joyner Morning Show. Now, play the video in the tweet, and tell me if you don’t observe what I do about Mayor Gillum. I think the women here will get what I mean.
Getting our day started with Tom Joyner @TJMShow in Orlando talking about how we fight for a Florida that lifts up our families & pays teachers what they’re worth. pic.twitter.com/S7mzIfhO3f
— Andrew Gillum (@AndrewGillum) August 31, 2018

The Fascinating Story of George Crum, Who Invented the Potato Chip in 1853
Every time a person crunches into a potato chip, he or she is enjoying the delicious taste of one of the world’s most famous snacks – a treat that might not exist without the contribution of black inventor George Crum.
George Speck, also called George Crum was born on July 15, 1824 in Saratoga County in upstate New York. The son of an African-American father and a Native American mother, Crum was working as the chef in the summer of 1853 when he incidentally invented the chip.
In the summer of 1853, George Crum was employed as a chef at an elegant resort in Saratoga Springs, New York. On Moon Lake Lodge’s restaurant menu were French-fried potatoes, prepared by Crum in the standard, thick-cut French style that was popularized in 1700s France and enjoyed by Thomas Jefferson as ambassador to that country. Ever since Jefferson brought the recipe to America and served French fries to guests at Monticello, the dish was popular and serious dinner fare.
At Moon Lake Lodge, one dinner guest found chef Crum’s French fries too thick for his liking and rejected the order. Crum cut and fried a thinner batch, but these, too, met with disapproval. Exasperated, Crum decided to rile the guest by producing French fries too thin and crisp to skewer with a fork. The plan backfired. The guest was ecstatic over the browned, paper-thin potatoes, and other diners requested Crum’s potato chips, which began to appear on the menu as Saratoga Chips, a house specialty.
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| Portrait of a George Crum with his wife |
In 1860 George opened his own restaurant in a building on Malta Avenue near Saratoga Lake, and within a few years was catering to wealthy clients including William Vanderbilt, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Jay Gould, and Henry Hilton. His restaurant closed around 1890 and he died in 1914 at the age of 92.
The idea of making them as a food item for sale in grocery stores came to many people at around the same time, but perhaps the first was William Tappendon of Cleveland, OH, in 1895. He began making chips in his kitchen and delivering to neighborhood stores but later converted a barn in the rear of his house into “one of the first potato chip factories” in the country.
At that time, potatoes were tediously peeled and sliced by hand. It was the invention of the mechanical potato peeler in the 1920s that paved the way for potato chips to soar from a small specialty item to a top-selling snack food. For several decades after their creation, potato chips were largely a Northern dinner dish.
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| George and his wife Kate. |
In 1921, Bill and Sallie Utz started the Hanover Home Brand Potato Chips in Hanover, Pennsylvania. Salie Utz used her knowledge of good Pennsylvania Dutch cooking to make the chips in a small summer house behind their home. The hand-operated equipment Salie used made about fifty pounds of potato chips per hour. While Salie stayed home making chips, Bill delivered them to “mom and pop” grocery stores and farmer’s markets in the Hanover, PA and Baltimore, MD area.
Out in Monterey Park, California the Scudders company started making potato chips in 1926. Laura Scudder is credited with developing the wax paper bag for potato chips which made a wider distribution possible because of its preserving properties. Prior to this bag potato chips were dispensed in bulk from barrels or glass display cases.
In 1932, Herman Lay founded Lay’s in Nashville, Tenn., which distributed potato chips from a factory in Atlanta, Ga. Herman Lay, a traveling salesman in the South, helped popularize the food from Atlanta to Tennessee. Lay peddled potato chips to Southern grocers out of the trunk of his car, building a business and a name that would become synonymous with the thin, salty snack. Lay’s potato chips became the first successfully marketed national brand.
The industry that George Crum launched in 1853 continues to grow and prosper. Potato chips have become America’s favorite snack. U.S. retail sales of potato chip are over $6 billion a year. In 2003 the U.S. potato chip industry employed more than 65,000 people.
(via The Great Idea Finder)
AfD: Who chooses them chooses Nazis – SPIEGEL ONLINE
Anyone who continues to vote for the AfD after this weekend wants a totalitarian state, wants the restriction of basic rights. He at least accepts a policy in the tradition of the National Socialists. Protest as an excuse is no longer valid. Even if you are afraid of foreigners, if you do not like the politics of Angela Merkel and you do not like Andrea Nahles, you should think about choosing neo-Nazis. To state that is neither left nor radical. The AfD is – in parts – against the free-democratic basic order. This has impressively proved this weekend. You have to know that as a voter. And you have to want it.
Source: AfD: Who chooses them chooses Nazis – SPIEGEL ONLINE




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